Downton Abbey Season 4: February 23 Finale Preview!

Here’s a little news to make your day: We watched the Downton AbbeySeason 4 finale back when it aired in the U.K. last December (on Christmas, to be exact) and so we got a look at what to expect. Although PBS has yet to release much of a trailer for the finale, set to air in the States on February 23, we’ve still got our second-by-second analysis of the finale preview. Think of it as a late Christmas gift (and if you really want a good gift, check out all of our spoilers for the episode):

00:04: Our first closeup look at new character, Harold Levinson (Paul Giamatti). The legal woes of Cora’s troublesome playboy brother were the reason Robert (Hugh Bonneville) had to depart for American so suddenly earlier this season. Has he forgiven the trans-Atlantic inconvenience?

00:13: All rise for the King and Queen! We’d heard King George V (Guy Williams) and his queen would be making an appearance in the two-hour show thanks to Rose’s debutante ball at Buckingham Palace, and Queen Elizabeth’s grandparents are just as aloof and aristocratic as we dreamt.

00:17: The blue sash clues us in that this new fellow is the Prince of Wales (Oliver Dimsdale) but obviously before all that abduction stuff goes down. And no, unfortunately, Colin Farrell will not be reprising his The King’s Speech role for this year’s finale.

00:22: Why all the white? It’s just the start of the season in London where the year’s leading young ladies make their debut to the city’s top echelons of society. Among their ranks is the Crawleys’s feisty Scottish cousin, Rose, so expect trouble.

00:25: Assistant cook Daisy Mason (Sophie McShera) look quite pleased in the promo, a definite upturn since the departure of Alfred, the latest object of her unrequited love. Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) telling Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol) “I’m afraid that boy’s interest in her might not be entirely proper” gives us hope that maybe something romantic will finally work out for Daisy.

00:35: Speaking of Daisies, Tom Branson’s (Allen Leech) new love interest, Sarah Bunting (Daisy Lewis) keeps popping up like one. Here the perky schoolteacher looks to have found her way into the halls of the Abbey, but as she been as successful working her way into the Irish widower’s heart?

00:37: More sad Edith. Thank goodness Aunt Rosamund (Samantha Bond) is there but will Edith go through with her aunt’s grand Swiss adventure?